Re: Writing for the Open Source Community
The donation of time and effort to any cause does not happen primarily becauseI think you're missing an important point here. Generosity is one motive. However, ego and experience are just as important, if not more so.
people want to be generous. It happens because they can afford to be generous.
Without good old business is for profit corporations paying programmers enoughObviously, people need to make a living. That's a commonplace and unremarkable. You could say that any hobby or avocation you could name can only exist because somebody has an income from another source. So what?
money and treating them well enough that they still love what they do for a
living, or whatever company paying their employee so that they can afford a
computer and go home a dabble in programming, the open source community would
not exist at all.
What's remarkable is that people in the open source community are donating hours of their time for intangible benefits - often, to the extent that they're doing more than another full shift of work, and keep doing so for years and years. Economic determinism has very little to do with it.
Your answer has really verified my opinion of Open Source. If you don't alreadyI gather that the altruistic reasons don't motivate you? Well, here's a couple of more pragmatic reasons:
have a day job (or need to build a portfolio), don't bother.
Another poster touched on a couple of other reasons. From personal experience, I can vouch that nothing gives a writer more instant geek cred than being informed or active in open source or free software development. If you want to be accepted by software developers,it's ideal. For example, once I mention that I've been published by Linux Journal, I'm almost instantly accepted when talking to programmers; they assume (perhaps not altogether accurately ;-> ) that I'm a writer who understands technology and software writing.
More importantly, the extent to which open source technology is becoming part of the workplace is incredible. IBM says that it earned one billion from open source solutions last year; HP says it earned two-three billion from them. Recently, too, I've noticed that networking and eLearning are particularly active in embracing open source technologies. So, depending on where you work, some knowledge of them can be extremely useful.
Of course, if you're sure you have a job for life, or feel you have enough expertise that you don't have to worry about emerging technologies, then these reasons may not be very compelling, either. But, personally, I prefer to be prepared. And when I can be prepared easily, and from home, and receive side-benefits - well, I don't why not. But, of course, the choice is personal.
--
Bruce Byfield bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7177
http://members.axion.net/~bbyfield
"Take six politicians to dig me a grave,
Take six intellectuals my soul for to save,
And six union workers, a red flag to wave
And one stupid singer to rant and to rave."
- The Men They Couldn't Hang, "Industrial Town"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Buy or upgrade to RoboHelp X3 today and receive the WebHelp
Merge Module for FREE ($299 value). RoboHelp X3's all-new
features include conditional text, completely re-engineered
printed documentation output, Context-sensitive Help Toolkit,
single-source layouts, and more!
Order online today at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
References:
Re: Writing for the Open Source Community: From: eric . dunn
Previous by Author:
Re: Writing for the Open Source Community
Next by Author:
Re: Writing for the Open Source Community
Previous by Thread:
RE: Writing for the Open Source Community
Next by Thread:
RE: Writing for the Open Source Community
Search our Technical Writing Archives & Magazine
Visit TechWhirl's Other Sites
Sponsored Ads